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Not Your Ordinary Concept of Care

Imagine you’re in the emergency room. After seeing the doctor, orders are written for your treatment. Maybe you need labs drawn, an x-ray taken or medications dispensed. But what if the person processing the order can’t read the physician's handwriting and you receive the wrong prescription or a test you didn’t need? While transcription errors are not the norm, they can happen.

Steps to Enhance Care

This fall, Adventist Health will launch computerized provider order entry across its system. The next phase of Project IntelliCare — Adventist Health’s clinical information system — CPOE is an electronic process allowing direct entry of medical orders by physicians and other health care providers, enabling patient care to be managed completely online.

Adventist Health is implementing CPOE to help reduce patient harm and save lives. Promoting safety and quality, CPOE will also streamline care for patients, making stays in the hospital easier.

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Using CPOE, doctors will be able to place orders directly through the computer.Using CPOE, doctors will be able to place orders directly through the computer.

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“CPOE will enable us to more effectively meet our goal of being the best place to receive care, to work and to practice medicine,” says Robert Carmen, Adventist Health president and CEO. “It will enhance our overall quality of care and further our distinctive mission.”

Quality the Norm across System

Central to our mission, emphasis on quality is evidenced by our commitment to new and better processes and technology and by the many awards and accolades our facilities receive.

Adventist Medical Center in Portland, Oregon, was recently recognized with the Community Value Index® Five-Star Hospital Award for the fourth consecutive year. This national recognition means AMC is consistently meeting the health care needs of the community in a financially responsible, efficient and effective way.

In addition, The Oregon Healthcare Acquired Infections Report recently compared infection rates at 58 hospitals, with AMC showing some of the best results in the state for eliminating central line-associated bloodstream infections in the ICU.

Walla Walla General Hospital, in Walla Walla, Washington, has been named one of the top-performing hospitals in the nation for treating patients with pneumonia, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. To increase awareness about this prestigious standing and other quality initiatives, the hospital recently released its first-ever quality report, complete with a companion website, www.wwgh.com/quality/2009Rep.

Across Adventist Health, facilities like Tillamook County General Hospital, in Tillamook, Oregon, participate in various quality initiatives. For example, TCGH has teamed up with Bryan Sexton from Duke University Health System on a groundbreaking quality initiative, A Culture of Teamwork and Safety Survey. The project uses a survey, filled out by frontline staff, to identify concerns and recommend improvements.

At Adventist Health we’re continually looking for ways to enhance the care we provide to our communities, always aware that we’re not only saving lives but touching hearts along the way.